Dark Post-Rock trio Barrens have today unveiled their stellar new single “Periastron” via Pelagic Records.
Stream here: https://orcd.co/barrens
Watch the official music video through the YouTube player below:
“Periastron” is an expansive, sweeping statement from the trio. A gently persistent synth underpins the majestic, otherworldly melody, leading to a beautifully grandiose climax.
The band comment: “‘Periastron’ concludes the A-side of corpse lights, at the point closest to the burning core of the album, before falling away again.
“The track went through several different versions before finding its current form, but ended up “sui generis” and became the perfect first part of the albums midpoint, as well as serving as one of its strongest pieces concerning one of the albums central themes; relationships.
“The video for the track was created by Grammy-nominated video artist Linus Johansson from the creative collective Try New Things, who took the artwork made for the single (by band member Johan G Winther) and used it as a starting point to build a brilliant, haunting, immersive, otherworldly experience through the red thread of the track titles and themes of the album.”
Barrens are a highly-regarded group from Gothenburg, Sweden, and feature two members of Scraps Of Tape, veterans of the scene who’ve been touring for over twenty years.
Barrens have developed their own idiosyncratic sound since their stunningdebut album “Penumbra” (2020): as driven by synths as by guitars, Penumbra oscillates between the dark and the brighter side of post-rock, but leaning more towards the dark. The album conceptually circles around themes of change, metamorphosis and transformation, “especially movement into, through and out of shadows and back again”, as guitarist Johan G Winther explains. “Being both lost in darkness, yet finding comfort there. Seeking it. Afloat in blinding light, suspended in darkness” – the message etched on the album vinyl.
Barrens were already touring together before they were even a band. In 2018, Markku Hildén joined Scraps of Tape, Johan and bassist Kenta’s other band, as a live drummer for two tours of Europe and a tour of China. “Finding an immediate chemistry between us both playing and hanging out, we quickly realised we had very similar ideas regarding music and creating art together. So the outlines for what BARRENS would become were sketched out back then in vans, trains, planes and over post-show beers at local bars,” comments Kenta Jansson.
Once back home, the newly formed band started writing demos, drawing inspiration from new sources and venturing through both well known and unknown territories. In the summer of 2019, “Penumbra” was recorded in Uppsala and Gothenburg and produced by the band, and mixed and mastered by Cult of Luna‘s Magnus Lindberg at Redmount Studios in Stockholm.
Since then, Barrens have gone from strength to strength. In the intervening time the trio have supported the legendary Mogwai, God Is An Astronaut, signed with the famed Pelagic Records and opening ArcTanGent‘s main stage for the 2023 edition.
